Ryan stuck his head in my bedroom door. "It's time" he said. That meant it was 4:30 a.m., the agreed upon wake up call for the deer antler shed hunt. This was the second hunt Ryan had planned in a week. The last one nearly kicked my ass (10 Mile Hike, as seen on Facebook). He promised this one would go easier and somewhat reluctantly I believed him. I had told him the night before that I was pretty scared since seeing the rattlesnake on our last excursion. He told me I would miss a lot in life if I stopped doing things out of fear. I knew he was right. When he deployed in two weeks I knew I would desperately regret having not gone with him, and so I got up. The bonus was that I would get to take some pictures of the sunrise. The previous day I had taken some great pictures of the
Colorado sunset. Keep in mind these pictures were taken with a little point and shoot camera as the hike was too difficult to take my steel frame SLR camera.
The quickest route to the rise of the bluff was through a couple of pastures which don't exactly belong to Ryan so we scurried across as fast as we could in the darkness of the morning. The air was cool and it felt good to be on an adventure with my son and grandson.
Ryan and Sadie live in an area called the
Bijou Basin (see link below). Its like a valley surrounded by hills, bluffs and a mesa. Quite beautiful.
(Story continued below)
We had hiked about an hour when RJ found the first antler shed of the day along a barbed
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| RJ finds the first shed of the day |
wire fence. RJ spotted the first single antler nestled in the pine needles and Ryan told him to look for the other side or the "matched set." Sure enough, not far from the first antler lay the second one. Ryan explained that they probably belonged to a young buck unaware of his antlers. As a young fawn the yearling had probably squeezed through many fences but as he matured he wasn't able to fit. Most likely the antlers, ready to shed, had caught on the fence and broken off as he tried to squeeze through.
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| ooops! |
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| Prairie Sunflower |
Moving along we had to cross over several "washes." Sadie had told me that July was the month when all the summer rain occurs in Colorado Springs. Right in the middle of a rain carved draw, wildflowers sprout up. I saw at least 6 different species of flowers. Most prevalent were the Prairie Sunflowers. Pictured below is the Prairie Spiderwort and the area was filled with clumps of Giant Red Paintbrush and sprinkled with Fairy Trumpet (red) and Mariposa Lilies. I was really wishing I had my good camera.
Ryan wanted to head straight to what he called "The Known Bone Zone." It was the spot where we had found the shed from a White Tail deer on our previous hike. Evidently White Tail deer are not as easy to find in the area. We had come up with special names for certain types of bones. RJ called the very old skull we found, "Old School Skull" and the very small skull we found, which we think may have belonged to a skunk, was called "minuscule skull" which Ryan shortened to "minuskull." The Known Bone Zone produced zip and so we pressed on.
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| Prairie Spiderwort |
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| Known Bone Zone |
We came across another nest with two eggs in it just like we had on our previous hike. And
like our previous hike we unknowingly flushed the mother out of the nest. It scared the bejeezes our of us. I didn't get a good look at the mother but Ryan said it was some kind of bird of prey. Well, it would have to remain a mystery until we got home.
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| Burrowing Owl Eggs |
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| Relaxing in the shade of a sandy draw |
After almost 3 hours into our quest I was starting to feel the effects of the hike. We had been skirting the bottom of the bluff and coming across steep draws in the terrain. We would slide and pick our way down and then struggle to climb up the other side. Ryan had the handle of an old shovel and he would extend it down to me and literally pull me up the side of the draw. RJ was like a little deer and seemed to effortlessly scale the sides. Occasionally I would plop down in the shade at the sandy bottom to catch my breath, always mindful of snakes of course!
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| RJ at the bottom of a wash |
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| RJ named this rock Giant Turtle With a Fudgecake Shell |
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| Soapweed Yucca and common cactus |
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| Mountain Lion Track and RJ's hand in comparison |
As we walked along a wash area Ryan spotted mountain lion tracks. He explained to RJ that mountain lions claws retract up into their paw and that is why you don't see the claws extending from the pad of the foot like you would a dog. He also told RJ mountain lion tracks can be identified by the number of pads on the foot. I always revel in the amazing experiences RJ has as a boy with Ryan as his dad.
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| Rocky Mountain Bee Plant-The leaves and seeds are edible but have an unpleasant taste |
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| Old Timey Cabin |
On our previous hike we had stood at the top of a bluff and looked down over the basin. Far
below we had seen a structure of some sort that lay in a pile amongst some trees and not too far from this structure we could make out the form of an old rusted out car. On our current hike Ryan was eager to explore this site and as we rounded a stand of trees we came upon them. RJ found an old mason jar and there were a bunch of rusty old cans laying about but that was about it. We snapped some pictures and then moved on as this was surely the home to a number of snakes and other undesirable creatures.
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| Old Timey Car |
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| RJ's arduous climb up a steep cliff wall |
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| One of many "washes" we crossed. It rains almost everyday in July |
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| These cactus literally cover the basin |
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| Knarly |
After 5 hours of hiking the sun was out in full force and it was starting to get hot. RJ and I both had bandanas so we soaked them in water and put them on our heads. That really helped. We had a nice cool breeze and as long as we weren't in the direct sun it was fairly pleasant. At this point we had started to climb strait up the bluff because it was flat on top and we could make better time heading back. We would have to descend the bluff once we got above Ryan's house but at least we could avoid all the draws and washes this way. It was pretty rough going up hill and I fell a couple of times skinning up my elbow and filling my shoes with dirt.
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| RJ shows off the prize of the day |
We stopped to drink water and eat sunflower seeds in the shade and that is when Ryan spotted the prize of the day. A whole skull with antlers attached. He didn't say anything but looked me in the eyes and tipped his head in the direction of the shed. I knew he wanted RJ to find it. We lingered for several minutes before RJ finally looked down the hill and saw it. "OMG!!! Dad!! look down there!" "What?" Ryan said, acting like he hadn't seen it and didn't know why RJ was getting so excited. RJ clamored down the hill and raised the skull high above his head. "This!" he shouted. "I can't believe it Boyka," Ryan's nickname for RJ. "Great find!" It was a pretty touching moment.
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| Hard to tell, but I'm climbing up a "wash" and the next picture is RJ at the top |
I'm not sure how long the hike actually was but my body said it was an eternity. I was so beat but I was so happy I had gone. Ryan congratulated RJ and I on a truly good job. It is a memory I will treasure forever.
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| RJ picking stickers out of his socks at the top of the "wash" |
When we had finally recovered we decided to try and solve the mystery of the bird nests we had seen on the ground. I looked up birds of prey on the internet but didn't find any eggs that looked like what we saw. "Look up owls" Ryan said. Sadie and I both said, "Owls?" We didn't think owls laid their eggs on the ground. I typed "owls" into the search engine and almost immediately a picture of the same eggs appeared on the screen. "Burrowing owls lay their eggs in the soils of Western Colorado and then migrate to Canada" I read aloud. Ryan got an all knowing smile on his face and said, "It's my duty in environmental stewardship to know the wildlife species in 'my Bijou Basin'." I love his humor and just about everything about him.
Ryan and Sadie live in an area called the
below we had seen a structure of some sort that lay in a pile amongst some trees and not too far from this structure we could make out the form of an old rusted out car. On our current hike Ryan was eager to explore this site and as we rounded a stand of trees we came upon them. RJ found an old mason jar and there were a bunch of rusty old cans laying about but that was about it. We snapped some pictures and then moved on as this was surely the home to a number of snakes and other undesirable creatures.
After 5 hours of hiking the sun was out in full force and it was starting to get hot. RJ and I both had bandanas so we soaked them in water and put them on our heads. That really helped. We had a nice cool breeze and as long as we weren't in the direct sun it was fairly pleasant. At this point we had started to climb strait up the bluff because it was flat on top and we could make better time heading back. We would have to descend the bluff once we got above Ryan's house but at least we could avoid all the draws and washes this way. It was pretty rough going up hill and I fell a couple of times skinning up my elbow and filling my shoes with dirt.
